AXS staking rewards on the horizon: What lies ahead for AXS and stakers

•  AXS staking rewards are set to be unlocked in July, worth over $23 million.
• Over 43% of AXS tokens have been staked, contributing to a thriving staking market cap.

As the Axie Infinity [AXS] ecosystem continued its growth, the introduction of AXS staking bestowed even greater power upon its devoted enthusiasts.

This empowering feature enabled them to take an active role in shaping the platform’s future while reaping the rewards for their participation.

With the highly anticipated AXS unlock event on the horizon, set to take place in the second quarter of this year, the question arises: what awaits the stakers regarding rewards?

Read Axie Infinity (AXS) Price Prediction 2023-24

AXS staking rewards set to be unlocked

Based on the latest data per Token Unlocks, the next event in the AXS ecosystem would involve the distribution of AXS staking rewards.

According to information provided by the platform, this event was scheduled to occur on 22 July. It would unlock 1.266% of the supply, which equated to more than 3.4 million AXS tokens with a staggering value of over $23 million.

This unlock event was especially significant, as all the unlocked tokens would be designated for AXS staking rewards.

Source: Token Unlocks

Furthermore, the data also indicated that over 22% remained locked. This amounted to around 59 million AXS tokens, with a current value exceeding $400 million.

The current state of AXS staking

According to the latest insights from Staking Rewards, the percentage of AXS tokens that have been staked surpassed an impressive 43% at the time of writing. This substantial staking activity has contributed to a thriving staking market cap, which currently exceeds $272 million.

It is worth noting that this figure represented a significant portion of the overall market cap, which stood at an impressive $790 million.

Moreover, per the AXS staking dashboard, the total amount of AXS tokens staked reached 49.7 million, valued at approximately $339.68 million. Meanwhile, the circulating supply of AXS tokens currently stood at over 98.8 million.

Additionally, a closer look at the AXS staking contract flow on Nansen, showed that there were more deposits than withdrawals. The data revealed that the AXS staking Netflow was consistently in the positive zone over the past few days.

The current Netflow stood at over 1,400, at the time of writing. These figures indicated that more participants were staking their AXS tokens rather than withdrawing them from the ecosystem.

Furthermore, the data provided by Nansen also confirmed the total value of staked AXS tokens. According to the chart, the value of staked AXS tokens had now surpassed the $300 million mark. The data closely correlated with the value of over $339 million reported on the AXS staking dashboard.

Ronin enables staked AXS lending and borrowing

In March, Ronin made an exciting announcement that AXS  joined the ever-expanding collection of DeFi tools accessible to Ronin wallet holders. This development presented AXS earners with a new option.

Instead of immediately selling their acquired tokens, they now had the choice to retain and stake them. The creators behind this initiative expressed their intention to deepen the integration of the game into the thriving DeFi ecosystem.

According to data from the AXS staking dashboard, the current daily staking rewards stood at over 50,000. However, as outlined in the project’s whitepaper, it was worth noting that the monthly staking rewards were set to experience a gradual reduction in 2025.

As an example, back in June 2022, the staking rewards were already lowered from 2,000,000 AXS tokens per month to 1,566,000.

AXS on a daily timeframe

Despite the increasing popularity of AXS staking, the price of AXS tokens recently encountered some challenges. Observing the daily timeframe chart, it became evident that the price was currently experiencing a downtrend.

Despite small attempts to gain over 1% in the last two days, it was trading at a loss as of this writing. Its current trading value hovered around $6.8, reflecting a decline of nearly 2%.

Source: TradingView

After an impressive price trend observed in January, AXS was retracing back to the price range from which it initially took off. As of this writing, it was finding support around 30 on the Relative Strength Index (RSI). A further price drop could push it into the oversold region, indicating a potential buying opportunity for traders.

Axie Infinity collection dominates NFT metrics

Based on data provided by Crypto Slam, the Axie Infinity collection continued to maintain its dominance in key metrics. This is despite newer collections entering the market.

At the time of this writing, the total sales generated by the Axie Infinity collection surpassed $4.2 billion. Also, more than 18 million transactions were recorded.

Furthermore, the number of sellers and buyers within the Axie Infinity ecosystem exceeded 1.8 million and 1.3 million, respectively. Additionally, the number of owners surpassed the 2 million mark as well.

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Considering the upcoming AXS staking rewards unlock event, it remained uncertain what impact it would have on the value of AXS. However, should stakers choose to sell off all their rewards? Well, it is just over 1% of the total circulating supply.

This provides perspective on the scale of the unlock event with the broader market. It also suggested that the unlock immediate effect on the overall value of AXS may be limited.